Libraries of the ancient world have long held a space in the public imagination. The library at Alexandria, even during antiquity, was nearly legendary. Until now there has been relatively little ...
More

Libraries of the ancient world have long held a space in the public imagination. The library at Alexandria, even during antiquity, was nearly legendary. Until now there has been relatively little research done to learn what was inside these libraries, who wrote the book rolls, who maintained and protected the holdings, and how those ancient collections came to be. This book examines the complex world of ancient libraries, from Greece, Italy, and Egypt, spanning four centuries from Cicero to Constantine. This study of early book collections illuminates the material culture of ancient writing alongside the role of these libraries in the intellectual world of their time. By answering questions about how curators built and maintained their collections of book rolls and how scholars used them, the book creates connections from the world of antiquity to modern day libraries and their scholarly functions, providing a detailed picture of ancient book collections and the essence of an ancient Roman library.Less

Inside Roman Libraries : Book Collections and Their Management in Antiquity

George W. Houston

Published in print: 2014-11-17

Libraries of the ancient world have long held a space in the public imagination. The library at Alexandria, even during antiquity, was nearly legendary. Until now there has been relatively little research done to learn what was inside these libraries, who wrote the book rolls, who maintained and protected the holdings, and how those ancient collections came to be. This book examines the complex world of ancient libraries, from Greece, Italy, and Egypt, spanning four centuries from Cicero to Constantine. This study of early book collections illuminates the material culture of ancient writing alongside the role of these libraries in the intellectual world of their time. By answering questions about how curators built and maintained their collections of book rolls and how scholars used them, the book creates connections from the world of antiquity to modern day libraries and their scholarly functions, providing a detailed picture of ancient book collections and the essence of an ancient Roman library.

In recent years, a long-established view of the Roman Empire during its great age of expansion has been called into question by scholars who contend that this model has made Rome appear too much like ...
More

In recent years, a long-established view of the Roman Empire during its great age of expansion has been called into question by scholars who contend that this model has made Rome appear too much like a modern state. This is especially true in terms of understanding how the Roman government ordered the city––and the world around it––geographically. In this innovative, systematic approach, Daniel J. Gargola demonstrates how important the concept of space was to the governance of Rome. He explains how Roman rulers, without the means for making detailed maps, conceptualized the territories under Rome’s power as a set of concentric zones surrounding the city. In exploring these geographic zones and analyzing how their magistrates performed their duties, Gargola examines the idiosyncratic way the elite made sense of the world around them and how it fundamentally informed the way they ruled over their dominion.
From what geometrical patterns Roman elites preferred to how they constructed their hierarchies in space, Gargola considers a wide body of disparate materials to demonstrate how spatial orientation dictated action, shedding new light on the complex peculiarities of Roman political organization.Less

Shape of the Roman Order : The Republic and Its Spaces

Daniel J. Gargola

Published in print: 2017-03-06

In recent years, a long-established view of the Roman Empire during its great age of expansion has been called into question by scholars who contend that this model has made Rome appear too much like a modern state. This is especially true in terms of understanding how the Roman government ordered the city––and the world around it––geographically. In this innovative, systematic approach, Daniel J. Gargola demonstrates how important the concept of space was to the governance of Rome. He explains how Roman rulers, without the means for making detailed maps, conceptualized the territories under Rome’s power as a set of concentric zones surrounding the city. In exploring these geographic zones and analyzing how their magistrates performed their duties, Gargola examines the idiosyncratic way the elite made sense of the world around them and how it fundamentally informed the way they ruled over their dominion.
From what geometrical patterns Roman elites preferred to how they constructed their hierarchies in space, Gargola considers a wide body of disparate materials to demonstrate how spatial orientation dictated action, shedding new light on the complex peculiarities of Roman political organization.

PRINTED FROM UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS SCHOLARSHIP ONLINE (www.northcarolina.universitypressscholarship.com). (c) Copyright University of North Carolina Press, 2017. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a monograph in CSO for personal use (for details see http://www.northcarolina.universitypressscholarship.com/page/privacy-policy).date: 21 February 2018